A new beginning
by rivendellelve
Summary: Kakashi and Anko have eventually been able to leave their pasts behind so how will they use their second chances when they are together on a mission? Pairings: Ankashi, slight GenShi. Sequel to 'Haunting pasts' DISCONTINUED
1. Prolog

A/N: So here we go with the sequel of 'Haunting Pasts'. I don't think it is that necessary to read 'Haunting Pasts' first, but that's just my opinion.

A new beginning

Prolog

It's been two days since Anko and Kakashi returned from their mission in Grass Country were they had to assassinate a wanted criminal and accidentally found a secret hideout of Orochimaru inside a cave. They would've fought against the sannin but he had other plans and left it to a subordinate to kill the two jounins. However they killed the former Iwa-nin instead of being killed by him. Afterwards Anko broke down because of her juin and Kakashi – because he didn't want her to suffer from it anymore – sealed it while she was unconscious.

The sun was shining brightly over the Hidden Village of Leaf and the sky was clear blue. There were only a few white clouds. All in all perfect weather and a perfect day. And on this wonderful day Kurenai and Anko were shopping. Kurenai just had convinced Anko to try the blood-red shirt on.

"Dunno…" Anko said eyeing the shirt.

"It looks good." Kurenai stated. Anko cocked her head.

"You just like it because it has the same color as your eyes." She said smirking.

"That's not true."

"It is."

"Not."

"Is."

"Not."

Anko stuck her tongue out. The two kunoichi smiled at each other. It was childish but still funny.

Anko turned away to remove the shirt. When she came out of the cabin again she found Kurenai staring at her.

"Something about your juin has changed." The elder woman remarked. Out of reflex Anko's hand reached up to cover the juin.

"You saw it?" She asked.

"Well the shirt didn't really hide it." Kurenai answered with a sly grin. "So what's this mark around it?"

"It's been sealed by Kakashi."

"That's fantastic! How did he do it?"

"Erm… well… dunno." Anko admitted.

"You don't know? But you should've been there when he did it, shouldn't you?"

Coincidentally Shizune had been there and had listened (_eavesdropped_) to the conservation. Naturally she couldn't resist and went over to Anko and told her a little secret about sealing methods. Then she left quickly, sniggering. Heading back to the Hokage office she saw Kakashi walking through the street reading his 'Icha Icha Paradise'. Maybe she should at least warn him now that she had spilt the secret.

"Hey Kakashi!" She greeted. He briefly looked up and nodded in acknowledgement before he continued reading his perverted book.

"Anko had been unconscious when you sealed her juin, hadn't she?" Shizune asked bluntly barely hiding her amusement. The dumbfounded look on Kakashi's face was enough of an answer – she had been right. "If I were you I wouldn't come too close to Anko in the next time." Kakashi stared at her wide-eyed.

"YOU-"

Before he could say another word she hid behind the first person within her reach. And coincidentally it happened to be Genma.

"Help me!" She half said and half laughed as she cowered behind his back. Genma just raised an eyebrow in question but kept standing between her and the copy-ninja. Latter growled and disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Do I want to know what you've done?" Genma asked laid back as always.

"No, not really. But thanks!" She smiled at him and he returned the smile.

Xxx

Kakashi jumped over the roofs. He wasn't sure whether what Shizune had done had been a good thing or bad. Ever since he had sealed her juin without asking first he had known that sooner or later Anko would've found out – though he would've preferred later – but it would've been better if he had been the one to tell her. Then again it would've taken him years to just directly say it. Maybe he could talk to her and fix things before it was too late.

He found Anko without any problems. She was talking to Kurenai at the moment. So when she was talking to Kurenai he couldn't just interfere – he would've to tell her another day. A nice excuse. The following days he had many excuses why he couldn't talk to Anko yet. He systematically evaded her and went to wherever she most likely wouldn't show up.

This went on for a week or so when he was summoned to the Hokage office. This was good – if he were away on a mission he would've more time to think about what to do.

"Kakashi!" The Godaime's stern voice cut through the silence. The copy-ninja immediately snapped out of his thoughts.

"I'm listening." He assured. Tsunade shook her head not quite believing him.

"Anyway." She said. "As I've already mentioned your mission will be to protect the castle of Chocolate Country along with its Feudal Lord from a bunch of thieves who had been invading the castle about three times in the past month. We don't know their exact number yet, let alone their strength but it seems that they've got at least some ninjas among them. Therefore you won't go on this mission alone. Your teammate will be…" 'Not Anko, not Anko…' Kakashi mentally prayed. "… Anko. You two shall leave immediately. So go."

Kakashi had serious problems of keeping his cool composure because behind Tsunade Shizune was laughing silently. With a small nod he left.

Xxx

Anko was at home lying lazily on her sofa reading a book. Though in fact she didn't really read it because she was lost in her thoughts. She wondered why Kakashi seemed to avoid her lately. It was bothering her, and it wasn't just her imagination – he was truly keeping out of her way. However someone knocked at the window. She was at the same time not surprised at all and still completely dumbfounded: there was only one who always came through the window – did he even know what doors were usually used for? – but why should he just come here like that after he had been evading her for so long?

"Long time no see." She greeted not showing her surprise.

He nodded smiling. "We've got a new mission." So that's why he had shown up. Then he told her the details of their mission.

Afterwards Anko just went to change clothes before they could leave. She removed her shirt already while she was walking, right in front of Kakashi's eyes, who quickly looked away. Anko had to smile at that.

"Why do you look away? It's nothing you haven't seen before, now is it?" she teased. "Or didn't you like what you've seen?" Anko could practically see the blush through his mask.

"Well about the sealing…" He said scratching his head. "Aren't you angry?"

So that's the reason. "Noo." It was true at first she had been angry but then she had thought about it again. She hadn't had a single nightmare since then and her seal hadn't been throbbing either so she just felt too good to be angry. "Let's just forget about it, okay?" Anko suggested. And Kakashi agreed feeling highly relieved. So only a few minutes later they left Konoha.

TBC

A/N: So the prolog is done. Tell me what you think of it :D

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: still not mine

A/N: Hi!

Just noticed that I've forgotten the disclaimer last time – I always do 'oops' but it should be quite obvious that I don't own Naruto :-(

Chapter One

Anko and Kakashi hopped from tree to tree as they traveled through the forest of Konoha. They were fast but they weren't exactly rushing. They would arrive in Chocolate Country soon enough, anyway. Over the day nothing had happened. They talked a lot since there wasn't much you could do while jumping from branch to branch. Though most likely they would've talked too even if they had something different to do.

Usually Kakashi wasn't saying much unless he considered it as necessary but he liked the conservations with Anko. She wasn't just the explosive, hyperactive kunoichi everyone knew; she was also the kind of person who would give 200 for someone she acknowledged and trusted. He liked that trait of her. Also every time she smiled at him he couldn't help but smile, too. And it felt right that way.

Some hours after nightfall they set up a camp. Kakashi lit a fire. Since they were still in Konoha it should be safe although they were close to the border. And while he prepared the food Anko started unwrapping their sleeping bags. When she was done she sat down next to Kakashi and waited as patiently as it was possible for someone like her. Kakashi smiled at her attempt of being patient.

Later they both crawled into their sleeping bags. Kakashi noticed after mere minutes that Anko was fast asleep because her breathing had become much softer and slower. He himself couldn't really sleep. Their sleeping bags were lying quite close and somehow Anko was rather… distracting. He needed to outstretch his arm and he would touch Anko. Thus he would feel her warmth again. He somehow missed it. Moment? What was he thinking – this was, after all, still a mission. Though she still looked cute as she smiled in her sleep. Shaking his head he turned away and stared at the night sky.

Xxx

He was back in Grass Country. Inside that cave. The smell told him that he was. He knew that he had both eyes open but for some reason he just couldn't see anything – Why? There was definitely something wrong. And it was cold down here. If it hadn't been pitch black he would've seen his breath freeze; he was sure of that. But even if he couldn't see anything, couldn't smell anything, he still could hear something. And he didn't like the sound of it. It was something like a death rattle. He's been a ninja for years by now so he had heard it often enough but still he didn't like it. It brought back bad memories. Whatever was rattling there it came closer.

Out of nowhere there was a breeze blowing away the chemical smell but however it didn't bring fresh air. Instead he was greeted by the same scent the battlefields used to have. The mix of blood, burned flesh, metal – a promise of death. Then the darkness was gone replaced by a blinding light. Ironic – first he couldn't see anything because it's been too dark and now that. What next? But soon the most light faded away and he became aware of his surroundings.

He was standing atop of a hill. The cold wind seemed to form holey wafts of mist, billowing like thin clothes in the wind. Behind him there was a huge castle. It looked like it only consisted of thick shadows. And staring at it Kakashi thought he saw different shades of black but quickly his attention was drawn to what was in front of him. There was slowly marching an army. Seeing them one would never ever think about asking 'ally or foe' because it was so absolutely clear that they didn't even know how to spell the word 'friendly'.

Their leader, an Iwa, looked as if he shouldn't be moving. He only was seemingly not aware of the fact he had already lost parts of his skin some meters ago. His body was slowly rotting and though the gray flesh white bone was shining. The rest of the army still looked alive but the copy-ninja didn't want to stay and find out if they really were -after all killing someone who's already dead could prove to be quite difficult.

He tried to leap away but his legs didn't move. Not only his legs – his whole body wasn't reacting the least. The something in front of him was nearing and his body didn't see the need to get away. Hell, he couldn't move at all! With every step the foul creature took the temperature sank at least three degrees. He started shivering, just from the cold as he told himself. He wasn't afraid of anything, wasn't he? The copy-ninja closed his eyes. If there wasn't anything he could do then there was no need to watch it. He felt like he was swimming in icy water.

Xxx

Suddenly there was warmth. First only little but then it grew larger and larger until the cold was gone completely. Slowly almost hesitantly he opened his eyes again and was greeted by the pale moonlight. He was back in the forest, right where he had fallen asleep and everything was still the same. Everything? Looking to the right side he realized that he hadn't only dreamed of the warmth. Somehow Anko must've moved in her sleep because now she was lying even closer to him than before, with one hand she loosely held his sleeve. He smiled as he silently thanked her for just being there. He liked her presence. He went back to sleep without having such a dream – he preferred to think of it as a dream because nightmare sounded like he was afraid – again. In the back of his mind he already knew that he didn't only like Anko's presence. He liked Anko - more than he ever he thought he could.

Xxx

Anko woke up early in the morning. She knew she was awake but still she didn't want to open her eyes. At the same time she was aware of the fact that she eventually would have to get up no matter what. So there was no use in trying to hold onto the sleep for any longer. Yawning the kunoichi blinked. And saw that she was lying entirely too close to a certain someone. Quickly she moved away and looked around. Finding out that she had been the one snuggling closer didn't help either. In fact it made her blush deeply and somehow she hoped that Kakashi hadn't noticed.

So what now? Kakashi was still asleep. Maybe she should wake him. Or maybe… An evil grin spread over her face. If he really were still sleeping he surely wouldn't notice if she looked under his mask. Anko knelt down beside him and slowly, her hands reached up to his mask. Carefully, really carefully she grasped the blue fabric and started to pull it down. Apparently not carefully enough – suddenly the copy-ninja burst into movement, grabbed her wrist and spun them around so that they basically just changed their positions so that Anko was now lying on the ground as he held her down. Their faces were only mere inches apart. Then his gaze focused and realizing the situation he quickly released Anko blushing under his mask. He muttered something like 'reflex' as he scratched his head. Anko laughed as she sat up, sure she would have to think of another way to look under his mask but as strange as this was it was still for some reason funny. Especially since there weren't many men who could hold Anko like that without losing their manliness.

Two hours later they arrived in Chocolate Country.

TBC

A/N: I know I can't get enough of this dreams :D

Thanks to ViolinRiddle, DancingPickle101, fire.elve, Senigata and BlueNovaBunny for reviewing.

So now that this chappy is done don't forget to review.

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Gomen nasai!

I'm really sorry for letting you guys wait so awfully long for an update. However until recently my Naruto-obsession was gone (until I got this Naruto game ) – thus I could hardly write ffs and when I finally started writing again I noticed that what I wrote sounded absolutely stupid so I had to rewrite this whole chappy and the fact that I'm sometimes – ehem often – quite picky about things I wrote didn't help either.

Anyway I'll shut up already.

Chapter Two

For a relative poor country as Chocolate Country was the castle could be called beautiful. It was built on solid rock so that the inhabitants would never have to fear an earthquake and it looked almost exactly like the old Japanese castles in larger countries only that it was smaller.

However the two leaf-nins didn't take their time to admire this architectural masterpiece, instead they headed straight on to the chamber of Lord Ogoe – just as they had been instructed to do by the Hokage.

Kakashi wasn't here for the first time – here in Chocolate Country. Though the time he had been in that area it hadn't been called like that – instead it had been a part of another country during the Great War. He vividly remembered infiltrating the old castle, which had been destroyed at some point, back then when he was still Chunin and his team was still there.

"What are you dreaming about?" A voice interrupted his musings and he tilted his head slightly to find Anko's light brown eyes staring at him.

"Eh?" What an unsuspected question.

"You seemed kinda dazed." Anko told him shrugging.

"Oh, well… just remembered the last time I've been here." He answered nonchalantly.

Despite Anko's obvious curiosity on that matter she didn't ask any further for they reached Lord Ogoe's chambers. Carefully Kakashi knocked.

"You may enter." A deep voice greeted them.

XXX

Lord Ogoe was a tall muscular man. Truth be told Anko could imagine him wrestling with bears though that's beside the point. However he made quite clear what he expected of ninjas of the leaf. To shorten his speech you could simply say 'Failure was not an option'. Anko wondered why he hadn't done this first place.

Leaving his build aside there was something around this guy that Anko definitely didn't like. She couldn't point her finger at it but she had a hunch that he was not who he seemed to be.

Thus she was glad when she and her silver-haired teammate were allowed to leave in order to do their job. The special jounin considered telling Kakashi about her distrust for Ogoe but she decided against it. If there really was something wrong with that guy he should've noticed it as well. At least she thought so.

Xxx

Standing on top of the castles roof the two shinobi made up a plan. Thus Kakashi would gather whatever information he could find while Anko would keep a watchful eye on the castle and its surroundings.

Anko was well aware of the reason Kakashi had insisted on gathering information himself – observing the castles was surely going to be… boring. To say the least.

He would pay for that later. She would make sure of that. With an evil grin leaped down into inner courtyard, gracefully landing like a cat her mind already occupied with planning her revenge. Oh yes that would be evil, really evil… Unless she could think of something better if she didn't forget until then.

Xxx

The silver-haired copy-nin strolled through the small village around the castle talking to the inhabitants. So far he had gathered at least some information though the villagers weren't exactly pleased with his presence since his client wasn't to be called popular among them.

As a result most of them didn't want to talk to him thinking he was going to arrest for speaking ill about the 'shady greedy bastard who would sell his own mother anytime' as an elder woman liked to put it. Well Kakashi didn't particularly mind.

So back to what he had found out so far: it seemed that next to jewelry the thieves were after scrolls. He could understand stealing jewels but scrolls? Anyway beside that every time they attempted to stop the robbery the following attacks would be getting more and more violent so that most people had given up on resistance. Satisfied with his research Kakashi headed back to the castle.

Xxx

The last rays of light slowly faded along with the day's warmth. Two figures stealthily moved through the growing shadows though for untrained eyes it was close to impossible to detect them. Usually they would have set up a camp for the night but with their destination not for ahead the shadows silently agreed on going on.

When they left the last small trees behind thick gray clouds greeted them coming from the west. Considering their luck it was going to rain cats and dogs now that they were out in the open with no shelter. This mission was surely going to be fun. Flicking his senbon to the left corner of is mouth he looked up and silently cursed himself for not taking an umbrella with him.

TBC

A/N: So I somehow can't get rid of the feeling that this chapter downright sucks :(

and it's also quite short isn't it? I can understand if you feel pretty much like roasting me alive. Teh. But I have the feeling that somehow now it'll be easier to write again an I'm determined to finish this fic – that is if there are still faithful readers willing to put up with an author like me

anyway thanks to: fire.elve, xxSamuraiXxx, DancingPickle101, Quietshade, Emi Kaisaken, Pupluvgurl, SHADOW DRAGON TWISTER, Kelly, Demoness of Evil, lalalala, Dr. Phluffy and Bloody Vyvyan foe reviewing

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Hello again

It's been only a week since my last update – I know a week isn't that fast for updating but under the current circumstances it's not that slow either. I'll try to update weekly but as always life tends to get into the way so I hope you won't be too disappointed if a certain lazy author makes you wait awfully long again.

Meh I'm rambling too much, ne? On the with the story

Chapter three

"Te, this is sooo boring." Anko remarked annoyed upon seeing her teammate return. To underline her point she stretched her arms yawning.

"So easily tired?" An amused voice rang out.

Anko didn't bother to answer.

"Where's that energy of yours?" Kakashi teased, only to have Anko stuck her tongue out at him.

"You would be tired too standing here the whole day." Slowly her typical grin spread over her face. "Well I might forgive you for letting me wait here the whole time if you at least remembered to get me something." She tilted her head with her evil grin slowly turning into a smirk. "No? Well that's too bad – for you."

In the inner courtyard of the castle a kunoichi pointed with a suppressed chuckle at two figures standing on the roof, one backing away with the arms raised in defense. The one standing beside her nodded approvingly and in unison they jumped on the roof.

Xxx

"Uhm, Anko, you know… why don't we just…" Kakashi was almost frantically searching for an excuse to get out of this one. Finding an excuse wasn't the problem – the problem was finding a good excuse. Just as Anko's grin grew eviler beyond words his ears caught the sound of something left to him and so did Anko so immediately they leaped away.

Just as Kakashi was about to take out a kunai he realized the situation and instead he raised an eyebrow. There just in front of him Genma and Shizune were standing.

"Hey you two, what are you doin' here?" Anko somewhat greeted them with a less evil smile as it had been a minute ago. "Vacation?"

At that Kakashi raised his left eyebrow – though no one could notice – only Anko would get the idea to spend one's free days in _Chocolate_ Country.

"Nah not really." Genma answered casually. "But someone thought you might need a babysitter so we were hired."

Shizune nudged him saying, "The truth is that someone else here didn't want to rely on ninjas hired by the lord. That is why we're here, but I uses it won't hurt for us to join forces."

"Yeah that'd make things easier!" Anko agreed enthusiastically.

Then the four leaf-nins compiled what they had found out so far before they agreed that Genma and Shizune would examine the whole area – much larger then Anko and Kakashi could do before while latter would still guard the castle.

Xxx

The constant patter of rain was for a while the only sound. That was until Anko decided that it was far too calm for her liking and broke the silence.

"Hey Kakashi!"

"Hn?"

"Why do you always wear that mask?" She asked curious.

"Habit." Was he going to answer every question in one word?

"Then how do you eat?"

"I take it off." Wow four words.

"Really? I've never seen you without it before." She said trying to imagine how he looked without a mask. With little success. But now she was even more curious. "Hm, why don't you take it off?"

"Why should I?"

"C'mon – just for me. Please?"

Kakashi only blinked confused as an answer so that Anko added almost casually, with an evil grin "Or do I have to remind of happened at the end of our last mission? Ya know it would just be fair…"

"Okay, okay." Kakashi gave in. "I'll show you later, alright?"

"Yeah, I'll make sure you won't forget it."

Just as Kakashi wondered how he ended up in this one his fine sense of hearing picked up the noise of cracking branches and rustling leaves. It could be an animal but usually those were quieter. Immediately he silently alerted Anko too and simply sharing a look they decided that Kakashi would take a look at who- or whatever had been there while Anko was keeping an eye on the rest so that nobody could sneak in using the backdoor.

With a kunai at hand Kakashi hopped down landing silently as a cat. From here he headed straight for the bushes leaving his teammate behind and advancing into the growing darkness of the night.

Xxx

If it hadn't been for the rain he might've been to sniff the intruder out but like this he would have to rely on his other senses – though that wasn't a problem. So it took him only mere minutes to find footprints – they were barely hidden at least for a ninja indicating that whoever was here knew to some degree what he or she was doing but he or she definitely wasn't a shinobi. That was if this person didn't want to be found.

Following the footprints he soon caught a glimpse of a man's silhouette with a swift movement Kakashi was behind the intruder within a second. The stranger appeared to have finally noticed the copy-ninja's presence for he stopped immediately which was probably due to the sharp blade pressed against his neck.

"Who are you?" The leaf-nin questioned coolly.

"Me?" The other asked as if they weren't alone in the woods in the middle of night but on a crowded street. "I'm just a normal villager taking a walk."

Well that obviously had been a lie – Kakashi could tell – plus the man sounding as if he didn't take the whole situation serious. A thing – considering the present circumstances a 'normal villager' certainly wouldn't. His instinct warned Kakashi not to let his guard down and if there was one thing he had learned in his years of service as a shinobi of the leaf then it was that your instincts were always correct – you only could misinterpret them.

So he repeatedly queried, "Who are you _really_?"

Apparently there must have been some kind of joke for the stranger started silently sniggering before speaking again. "Why do you want to know? Why does Konoha even bother if there are some thieveries here and there?"

Kakashi was slowly losing his patience with this guy and that his alarm bells were ringing didn't help either. Nevertheless he stated calmly "Konoha's been asked for help – that means we're not going until we've caught all of you. So I'm going to ask you one last time – should you lie again you're not going to live to see the next day." To emphasize his point Kakashi put a little more pressure on the kunai so that the blade slit through the fabric of the mans collar.

"Catch all of us?" The man asked mockingly. "Before you can do that you'll most likely be already buried under tons of rock. That is if you get that far."

Just as he was saying that there was already a glowing light under his jacket caused by the fire burning the explosive tags.

Xxx

Anko was climbing back on the roof again after making sure that no one had sneaked into the castle already starting to wonder what took Kakashi so long. The very moment she thought that a terrible explosion cut through the silence coming from the direction where her teammate had been heading to…

TBC

A/N: Alright chappy's done

I hope it wasn't too bad (I've got the feeling that the whole thing was just one large dialogue o.O)

Anyway reviews are always appreciated

Thanks to inu/naru fangorl, Ornlu, SHADOW DRAGON TWISTER, Chavva and fire.elve for reviewing

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Hmm… Did I say I'll try to update weekly last time? – ducks various pointy objects – you see my week is a little longer than your weeks (now that's a lame excuse, isn't it? ') Well I'm sorry about that '

Chapter Four 

He stared up at the ceiling though he wasn't really looking at it – in fact he wasn't even aware of his surroundings. He felt oddly detached from his body and he didn't care nor did he worry that he was unable to move. A bystander would've figured that this was because of the sedatives rushing through his veins but he himself was still oblivious to the world. Only something deep inside of him that could be vaguely described as 'shinobi-instinct' was trying to kick his mental ass to get the hell moving.

But ignoring his subconscious his body decided that a nap would be just right and ever so slowly he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Xxx

Anko silently cursed as she rubbed her right leg where a kunai had hit her and left a fortunately not deep but itching wound. How could she had been so stupid not check for enemies before rushing towards her comrade? No wonder that Iwa had caught her off guard forcing her to retreat – after all she wouldn't help anyone if she were dead. But still it felt as if she'd abandoned her teammate.

Cursing again – louder this time – Anko pushed all these unnecessary thoughts aside and concentrated on following the tracks the assailants had left. She wasn't a tracking expert but those guys obviously weren't disguising experts either. Anko didn't care that she wasn't acting like a real shinobi, that she might be jumping head first into danger because she didn't wait for Genma or Shizune. But she was positive she could handle so why wait for the rain to wash the traces away?

So stealthy like a cat Anko sneaked through the high grass. Chocolate Country had opposite to Konoha not many trees; grassy plains, small mountains and countless hills dominated its landscape. As time passed by the rain ceased and the clouds gave way for the crescent moon to illuminate the scenery. Needless to say that Anko could barely see anything so it was pure luck that she stumbled over something that she first mistook as a fox-hole but then wondered about the seize and figured that this was indeed a some sort of secret entrance to a hidden hide-out, sewer system or whatever.

The kunoichi braced herself for the descent into enemy region when without any warning a fit of dizziness hit her and the world threatened to go black. But as sudden as it had come it subsided leaving Anko with nothing more than a weird feeling in the gut. Quickly shrugging it of she focused on the task at hand and started crawling through the hole.

Xxx

That was just… 'great'. Shizune paced back and forth going through every possible scenario to figure out what had happened, where her teammates were and how they should solve the problem with neither abandoning her comrades nor ignoring their mission's task. The odd looks she received from some people for she was pacing on top of a building didn't help the matter either. Not that Shizune cared about what others thought about her – especially now. She should really trust that 'those fully grown ninjas could look after themselves' as Genma put it but for a healer it was only natural to worry and also: he wasn't there when one of said ninjas had to be patched together again in the hospital. So there was no reason _not_ to worry.

"Shizune."

She didn't answer.

"Shizune…"

Still no reply. Either pacing was too much fun or she ignored her senbon-chewing teammate. Not giving up that easily he blocked her path.

"Shizune!"

Finally she looked up at him, the inner turmoil evident in her eyes. He placed one hand firmly on her shoulder saying:

"Calm down, Shizune. They'll be definitely alright so don't let your judgment be influenced by your emotions."

For a moment Shizune only stared at him but then she clenched her teeth and nodded.

"You're right Genma. Panicking isn't going to help anybody." And with a weak smile she added. "So what are we going to do now?"

He gave her also a little smile which turned into a smirk as he spoke "You're the thinker in our group I'm only the muscles."

Shizune gave him a playful punch on the arm before she turned around saying "I suppose that's why we make such a good team. So shall we think of a good plan Mr. Muscles?"

Xxx

Anko sneaked through the dark floors melting with the shadows. The few torches weren't enough to illuminate the tunnels; they only seemed to make the darkness darker. But that was fine with Anko – otherwise she would've probably been already caught although without proper light everything looked the same so she had a hard time not losing the orientation.

"Don't say – he's _that_ guy?"

The rough voice echoing through the tunnel almost gave Anko a heart attack immediately she flatted herself against the wall – that is if those uneven stone thing that looked like it was formed with no other tool than a club could be called wall – praying that her loud heart beat wouldn't give her away.

"Yeah, I kinda almost feel sorry for him. Just imagine what the boss will do to him once he arrives." A second voice answered.

"Ah I wouldn't want to miss that. Hahaharr!" Both laughed in a disturbing manner but thus they were distracted and passed Anko hiding place without noticing her.

Anko released a breath she didn't know she was holding it and leaned against the cold stone for support. That was entirely too close for her liking and her legs felt now like they were made out of jelly. Not very ninja-like of her. Straightening up she peered around the corner and since no foes were in sight she quickly went on.

Xxx

He's been half-asleep so far until someone ruthlessly pulled him into a sitting position so that the ties around his wrist were cutting into his flesh. Blinking his visible eye the copy-nin tried to remember where he was and what he'd done to deserve such a rough wake-up call.

"Finally awake, are we?" An unknown voice snarled while some others in the background snickered.

Ah, he'd been stupid enough to be caught by the enemy. That also explained why his left site was hurting like a bitch… _Damn explosive tag_

"Ey, no day-dreaming," Kakashi involuntarily flinched when the stranger gave him a pat on his injured cheek. "We've got some questions you might want to answer."

The leaf-nin 'hmph'ed with as much as disdain he could muster in his kind of situation and settled for staring at the bulky ninja instead. Because of the backlight he couldn't make out much more than the outline of the other ninja but even so Kakashi could've sworn he saw the – what was he, Iwa? At least the emblem on his headband could be the Iwa sign – (assumed) Iwa-nin was smirking.

"Well if you're not going to help us we'll have to ask your little friend – and trust me we'll have fun torturing her."

_Anko!_

"Wait." The calmness in Kakashi's voice was a complete contrast to how he felt inside. "Why aren't you going to torture me?" Something inside him already knew the answer to that question: Anko was the easier target.

"You see copy-nin your reputation is also known among your enemies – or should I say worst nightmares? So why try to break through a house's wall if you could just shatter the window?"

"You're going to regret this." The Hatake growled but the other only laughed out.

"I doubt it but hey if you care about your friend that much I'll give you a chance: Just tell me where it is. If you do the boss maybe will let you live… or maybe not. Anyway where is it?" With the last words he bent over Kakashi a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"It?" Now the copy-nin was confused, if he wanted where 'it' was he should've said what it was. However those thoughts didn't occur the bulky man as he barked over to one of his teammates lurking in the shadows with a voice suddenly as cold as ice.

"That's it. He's not going to tell us so get her!" As one of the shadows hurried off he turned back to Kakashi saying "Everything that will happen form now on will be solely your fault _leaf-nin_."

Not much later the Iwa – Kakashi had been able to figure out they were definitely Iwas since one of them had stepped into the light - came back with a female ninja.

Anko's eyes widened in horror when she saw her teammate…

TBC (hopefully ')

A/N: Look at this – I've finally managed to actually finish the fourth chapter O.o

I had started writing it a while ago and then I didn't like what I had written so far and rewrote it and then I didn't have the time to write but with every review I at least tried to continue writing… Though that doesn't change the fact that it's been almost… 8 months(?) since my last update – so again sorry for making you wait awfully long.

Thanks to eaglelily2395, Mary, mistakenXsilence, raqi, SHADOW DRAGON TWISTER, fire.elve, Chavva and inu/naru fangorl for reviewing

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


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